Under-21 side to face Bosnia Herzegovina in friendly match

The Malta Under-21 team will play a friendly match against the Bosnia & Herzegovina U-21 side at the National Stadium on June 5, 2019.

Coach Silvio Vella and his assistant Noel Turner have named a provisional squad of 24 players for training in preparation for the match against Bosnia which is part of Malta’s build-up for the UEFA European U-21 Championship Group 8 qualifying matches.

The Malta U-21s kick off their campaign with an away double header against Northern Ireland and Ukraine in September. The other teams in Group Eight are Denmark, Romania and Finland.

Vella is largely banking on a new-look squad with several new players who are vying to make the grade at this level and some experienced players who have already represented Malta in Under-21 competitions.

In March, the Malta Under-21 team left a good impression in a training camp in Turkey, playing also two friendlies. They beat Turkmenistan 2-1 in the first match and then lost 1-0 to Kosovo.

Bosnia & Herzegovina will be tough opponents but Vella’s main objective at this stage is to use the upcoming training sessions and friendly to boost his team’s preparations for the Euro qualifying campaign starting in September.